With a number of areas now under Alert Level 1, many are expected to troop to different churches for the observance of Ash Wednesday on March 2.

Churches already posted the schedule of their masses on Facebook, Tuesday, to help guide the faithful.
Masses at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros will be at 7:30 a.m., 12:10 p.m., and 5:30 p.m.
At the National Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus in Manila, masses will be at 6:30 a.m., 12 noon, 6 p.m., and 7 p.m.
During Ash Wednesday, the faithful have their foreheads marked with ashes (from the burnt palm fronds) as a sign of penance.
Ash Wednesday is also the start of the Lenten season which is a time when Catholics are enjoined to do good works, fast and pray.
Father Genaro Diwa of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Liturgy said the observance of Ash Wednesday is very significant because it is during this time that the faithful admits to the whole community that they are now ready to repair whatever damage they have done in their relationship with God and with others which is being symbolized by the ashes imposed on the forehead of the faithful.
“The ashes (from the burnt palm fronds) of Palm Sunday signify or symbolize the desire of Christians to follow Christ. But we know that the green palms that we held on Palm Sunday would be dried and like our desire, they would be unsuccessful and so the church burns them to signify that we have to renew. We have to start all over again because we know from that time on that we have expressed our desire to follow Christ many times we have not been successful,” he said in a previous interview.
During Lent, Catholics, aged 18 to 59, are encouraged to practice fasting and abstinence, among others, where the former means limiting one’s self to only one full meal a day while the latter is the avoidance of meat or other things that individuals usually find hard to sacrifice.